Torres-a-red!

(Thefc100: bringing you the first pic of Torres in a Liverpool shirt. Kind of.)

Liverpool and Atletico Madrid have officially announced the departure of striker Fernando Torres from Atletico after he passed a medical and agreed personal terms on a deal thought to be worth £90,000 a week to the Spanish striker, who will sign a six year contract.

Torres, 23, scored 82 times in 214 appearances for the club he supported as a child, and moves to Anfield having scored 14 times for Spain in 40 appearances. There’s expected to be an outcry from Atletico fans upon hearing confirmation, especially as they already held a demonstration against the sale last week. Torres is expected to be unveiled to the media tomorrow, Wednesday July 3rd, where he will put pen to paper on the new deal.

The fee involved is believed to be £26.5 million although earlier today the two clubs reached agreement on the sale of Luis Garcia in the opposite direction for a fee of around £4 million which will offset some of the fee involved.

Garcia returns to one of his former clubs having agreed the switch yesterday and told reporters that he was sad to leave Liverpool but excited by the prospect of winning trophies in Spain. The move should also boost Garcia’s chances of making the Spain squad for Euro 2008.

Meanwhile Xabi Alonso has spoken of his excitement at the prospect of playing with Torres next season saying:

It would be fantastic if Torres is bought by Liverpool because he is a brilliant player, Alonso told Spanish newspaper Marca. We are going to see what happens in the end, but it is clear that it would be good for us to have him. He (Torres) has already demonstrated his enormous quality and to have him in the team would be brilliant.

The move for Torres is likely to appease both Rafa Benitez and the Liverpool players, who had both appeared to have grown uneasy about the lack of big-name transfer activity since the end of the season. The fans will now be hoping that Torres provides the goal threat that Liverpool have failed to possess in recent years, and the move will also provide further doubts over the future of Craig Bellamy at Anfield.